In A Reflective Mood

Sorry to neglect my Feed Your Head fans, but this year is accelerating at such a rapid pace, I'm struggling to keep up. Never in the wildest dreams of my youth could I have imagined that, approaching 60, I would be having the time of my life, and that it would involve rock and roll.

Caught up in this whirlwind of a current music scene that is so vibrant and inspiring, discovering how much I love writing has been a revelation and had given me more fulfillment than, perhaps, anything else I've ever done.

Music always had a powerful hold over me. I'm told by family that I was rocking back and forth, hour after hour, to the same record, over and over, by the age of three, and by four, I was consciously amassing favorite records. But, never having the confidence, or believing I had any talent to pursue music, I tried and failed at various instruments, though whenever we visited a house with a piano, I would go right for it. We had a piano in our house until I was about 14, but I couldn't get the hang of piano lessons, so I taught myself to play my favorite songs by ear. (I'm sure in a most perfunctory way). I never entertained the notion of a life's pursuit of music and thus, I gravitated to the visual arts, where I have made a home for myself to this day.

But I remained a constant music listener, constant in that it filled nearly every waking hour of my existence well into my thirties, with current music recceeding further and further into the background during the 1980's. I blame it on Reagan. Music just lost it's relevance for me and I lost interest. From 1990 to 2005 I probably heard all of 6 different new rock songs in that span and didn't look any further.

Since I fell down this rock and roll rabbit hole on August 1, 2005, (I remember the moment), of course, I have been educated by people, and, indeed there were pockets of greatness here and there in the bleak landscape. But distribution was so fucked up back then by the major labels and corporations that indie music was hard for an ordinary person to find. Or purposely squelched.

What's happening now seems so different than anything that's gone before, partly because nobody knows where it's going, or even how long this creative energy level can be maintained by so many talented artists at the same time. But the controls are off, and the boundaries have been knocked down, and there's a spirit of cooperation that bodes well for the future. It's why I've become a believer in the theory that, as far as rock and roll is concerned, the best is not in the past, but in the future. When I discovered this, after observing for about a year, I became determined to be a part of it, to try to contribute something. So I started blogging.

Tonight I begin a run of five show in five days (if I can hold out), from Darker My Love tonight at Echoplex, to Grizzly Bear (below) on Tuesday at the Palladium. I'll keep you posted.

WOO HOO!

Just heard that Avi Buffalo have signed with Sub Pop Records. Congratulations on a well deserved placemant to my friends, Avi, Sheridan, Rebecca and Arin.

whrabbit